2006 Bentley Continental Flying Spur Ultra Luxury Sedan Selling No Reserve on 2040-cars

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2020 Bentley Flying Spur spied winter testing in Europe

The current Bentley Continental GT made its debut about a year and a half ago at the Frankfurt Motor Show. The big British coupe was joined about a year later by a drop-top variant, but there's been little word on the four-door model, the Bentley Flying Spur. We saw some spy shots last May of the car testing at the Nurburgring, and today we have a new batch of the Flying Spur doing winter testing in Europe. We don't know when the car might debut, but don't rule out a surprise reveal at next week's Geneva Motor Show. The cars in these photos are nearly uncovered. That said, if you're not paying attention, you may not notice much difference. Bentley has taken the Porsche approach to design, evolving the same basic formula rather than issuing a ground-up redesign. The lighting has all been updated, with larger lenses both front and rear. The smaller secondary headlights have moved further out on the front fenders. The upper and lower grilles, too, are larger, taking up a majority of the front end. The profile is generally unchanged, though some of the lines appear to be a little sharper, giving the Flying Spur a more muscular appearance. Expect the 6.0-liter twin-turbo W12 to soldier on. In the Continental, the engine makes 626 horsepower and 664 pound-feet of torque. The Flying Spur should get a similar output. As on the coupe, expect a V8 and plug-in hybrid variant to follow in the next few years. Related Video:

Bentley Mulsanne convertible expected to be greenlit this year

That was quick - it was only was only three weeks ago that the Bentley Mulsanne Vision concept, a droptop take on the brand's flagship sedan, was sketched out for the Pebble Beach crowd. Now Autocar reports that a production version is expected to be approved later this year, with a launch something like two years away. And even though it hasn't been officially given the go-ahead, it has a price: "at least £275,000" ($436,232 U.S.). That price would make for a £50,000 premium ($79,313 U.S.) - at least - over the current UK price of the Mulsanne sedan.
Just as the Continental GTC differs from its coupe sibling, Autocar says the Mulsanne cabrio would be unique from the A-pillars back as compared to the sedan. Shortened by roughly six inches in both length and wheelbase, frameless doors and a lowered windshield will contribute additional rakishness, and note the rear fender treatment meant to evoke the fifties-era Bentley R Type in the upper right corner of the sketch above. At launch it is predicted that power will come from the twin-turbo 6.75-liter V8, but Autocar predicts that V12 power being developed for the production version of the EXP 9 F SUV will eventually find its way up front.

Bentley planning new Le Mans prototype for LMP2 class

Word has it that Bentley is planning a new Le Mans prototype racer. Speaking with Bentley chief Wolfgang Durheimer, Autocar reports that a new LMP2 project is underway at Crewe. The program would be run in-house instead of outsourced to a partner racing team. But while the prototype would likely use the company's 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8, the chassis by necessity would have to be outsourced: the three major sanctioning bodies recently got together to approve Dallara, Oreca, Riley-Multimatic, and Onroak exclusively to supply LMP2 chassis, so Bentley would have to base its design around one of theirs. The British automaker might have a number of reasons for restricting itself to the LMP2 class. Chief among them is likely the presence of both Porsche and Audi in the top-tier LMP1 category, and parent company Volkswagen's likely reluctance to send another one of its brands into the same fight. Another is budget: developing and fielding a competitive LMP1 program can be as costly as running an F1 team, whereas the prospect of sourcing and adapting an LMP2 chassis from an approved supplier would cost Bentley far less. But another factor not to be discounted is that Bentley may be choosing its battles carefully. Where the LMP1 prototypes are constricted largely to Le Mans and the FIA World Endurance Championship of which it is part, there are several series that top out at LMP2 – most notable the IMSA SportsCar Championship where Bentley is tipped to focus first, but also in the European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. In fact [SPOILER ALERT] an LMP2 entry just won the 24 Hours of Daytona for the first time, beating out the Daytona Prototypes against which they compete. Those are bragging rights that Bentley could be keen to capture, and if it plays its cards right, it could sit out the LMP2 class at Le Mans and in the WEC altogether, rather than compete for second-tier victory behind its big brothers in LMP1. That would make this program radically different from the last time Bentley built a Le Mans prototype. In the early 2000s, Bentley fielded successive versions of the Speed 8 (pictured above) with a little help from Audi, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans outright in 2003. The company then shut down the program, only to return to racing with the Continental GT3, developed with longtime Ford rally partner M-Sport and offered to privateer teams.